


Cosmic Mutualism

by ffantastic



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Flora & Fauna, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Coming Out, Friends to Lovers, Gardens & Gardening, Gay Keith (Voltron), Getting Together, Kissing, M/M, No Smut, Pining Keith (Voltron), does it count as canon divergence if i cherry-pick what i want from canon and add some klance?, emphasis on the flora, tame friends with benefits
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-02-09 06:57:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18633100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ffantastic/pseuds/ffantastic
Summary: Mutualism, noun: term for a relationship between organisms of different species in which both partners profit from structures, products, or behavior. Individuals of a mutualistic species grow, survive, and/or reproduce at higher rates in presence of the other mutualistic species. Sometimes used as a synonym for symbiosis.The Voltron team struggles with bringing two at-odds planets into the coalition, and Lance struggles with the realization that he might just have to make out with Keith one of these days.





	1. Prologue: The Seeds

**Author's Note:**

> definition of mutualism courtesy of a german online biology dictionary. translation including questionable stylistic choices by yours truly.

Back in his shack in the desert, Keith had owned a few cacti. A few on his windowsill, small ones in nondescript sepia flower pots, a few larger ones outside, and when one bloomed, he set it on his desk or next to his bed, so he could look at them even more. He hadn't considered himself someone who liked plants, or someone who was good with anything that grew, but cacti weren't hard to take care of, and rewarded you even more if you did. They grew larger. They bloomed. They hardened and burst out of their pots, but stayed their same old round, prickly selves. 

Shiro had given him one, once, but that hadn't been the first cactus. There had always been a cactus, somewhere, just a tiny round one sometimes, but they were always there, silently waiting for Keith to stare at them when he didn't have anything else to stare at and give him blooms sometimes. They always bloomed for him. Maybe that was why he had collected so many in that desolate year in the desert, because he had desperately been looking for just anything good. For something that could bloom despite its spines, for something that could show him it was possible. 

Keith missed them. There hadn't been any plants at all on the castleship for a long time, and maybe they wouldn't have even survived, but still, he should have stuffed one in his pocket, his favorite, the small round one that had given him the nicest pale pink blooms, and taken it with him. His room felt empty. 

Someone must have known (or rather, Shiro had told someone) because otherwise, Pidge wouldn't have involved him in her newest project. She wanted to install a garden on the ship, with Allura's help, a real garden, right in the belly of the castleship, down corridors and around corners where the lights were turned down low and where Keith had never wandered. And somehow, Keith had been deemed knowledgeable enough to help. He certainly didn't feel that way at first, when he was the silent one sitting in between Pidge and Allura having a heated discussion ("So I was thinking a hydroponics ch-" "But why? We can sustain a real garden." "That's impossible!" "No, it's magic."). What knowledge could he really offer? Certainly, none that would help with installing a garden on a spaceship in any technical terms. He hadn't ever nurtured a plant that wasn't a cactus all on his own, and had certainly never owned something that resembled a garden, only a row of flower pots.

But it turned out that no knowledge was needed, only some sort of motivation. He was there to lift things. Scrub things. Screw things together and pour tons of soil in it, mix in ingredients someone else had determined beforehand, and sometimes, go out and look for new plants to plant, new seeds to sow. Keith was just the one who did all the things someone else had thought up, here, and for once, he was absolutely on board with it, because he loved what the garden was becoming. 

For his troubles, he had been granted his own little square of garden. The rest of the place was pretty bare still, only some ranks growing up their stilts, some green here and there, chairs already set up where trees were supposed to grow in a few years' time. But his little garden was exceptionally untouched. Not because he didn't want to plant anything, but there just weren't any cacti to be found in space. Keith had never thought about it back on Earth, because why should he have, but succulents were not very common throughout the universe, and the few merchants he'd come into contact with had no idea what he was talking about when he tried to describe a cactus to them. They furrowed their eyebrows, or clicked their jaws, jiggled their antennae, or whatever other body language they possessed to show unease at not knowing something, and tried to sell him something that was decidedly not a cactus. He'd always turned away. Any other plant, he was bound to mess up. Also, he just missed cacti. 

Another planet added to the Voltron Coalition brought the whole team to yet another market after a quickly settled diplomatic dispute, and Keith set out to find something new for the garden. A large and sprawling market, though not as large or as sprawling as some they'd come across, and everyone wandered off towards their own interests. Keith was left with a list of things Pidge and Allura wanted to add to the garden, and some of his own ideas.

Allura had gone looking for clothes with Coran and Lance, and he hadn't felt inclined to accompany them, nor had he felt the need to tag along with Hunk and Pidge. Both of these groups just sounded like Keith would be the one trailing behind, the one who looked and felt like he didn't belong there. Shiro might have still been a valid choice, and at least he would have gladly tagged along and looked for cacti with Keith, but the thought made Keith a little uneasy. He had never seen much nostalgia or anything poetic, symbolical, in his relationship to cacti. They were just plants, and he just found them neat, and sometimes he thought a little too much about them. But Shiro had always approached the topic with such caution, with a completely different voice, almost in awe, that at some point, Keith felt dread creep up at him just at the memory. He didn't want it to mean too much or connect this much to his past. It was just a hobby, and also, the garden was just a project between him and Pidge and Allura, and so he set out on his own. 

Or so he thought. He’d barely walked past two stalls before someone called his name, and Lance came up beside him. 

They had only barely dressed to fit in with the market, because they weren’t undercover, and the vendors and other visitors were as diverse as species across the universe could be. Keith had only traded his jacket for a sleeveless maroon coat, but Lance had evidently had more fun with dressing up. He'd found two new shirts, new pants and boots and a tighter-fitting jacket, in various shades of beige and blue and multiple patterns, and swept his hair out of his face. It should have mashed together terribly, but somehow, he pulled it off. Something about the outfit threw Keith off enough that he didn’t hear what Lance was saying to him. 

"Huh?" 

"We're heading to the Zerjogian designers' tent. They're supposed to have the newest and best fashion and equipment, and you're on your own, so…"

Keith just nodded, because it made sense now that Lance was dressed like a mix of a pirate too proud of his title and a prince who had never learned the meaning of the word _casual_. Lance took it for something else, though. 

"So, you'll come with us?" 

Without waiting for Keith's response, Lance threw an arm out and drew Keith into an uncomfortable side-hug. 

"That'll be so great, man!" 

Lance was wearing too many layers for the almost-desert this market was situated in, and his shoulder was already a little damp from sweat where it pressed against Keith's. It did not make Keith want to turn away in disgust, though. Lance was close enough that when he laughed, low and subdued, Keith felt his shoulder vibrate and the breath on his ear, and what he was feeling was so decidedly _not_ disgust that he had to turn away. 

He wound himself out under Lance's arm and didn't look him in the eye when he answered. 

"I'm not coming with you." 

It was easy to imagine disappointment in Lance's eyes, but Keith knew that even though they were friendly with each other now, friendly enough for a casual arm around the shoulder, sometimes, apparently, that didn't mean they were _friends_ , and it didn’t mean Lance had wanted him in that tent for anything else than to giggle about something weird he would end up doing. That wasn’t a bad thing, but it wasn’t what he'd come here for. 

"Aw. But you know it's not just fashion, the planet they're from is under Galra rule, and we're wondering why they're here, so…"

It really didn’t make sense for them to come to such a well-known free, rebel-filled market and not expect any difficulties, but from the short briefing they'd had, it wasn’t a priority. Shopping was at least as much of a priority, as was the garden, so Keith shrugged. Lance shrugged back, eyebrows drawing together as if he really _was_ disappointed. 

"Okay, if you're gonna be like that." 

Keith raised his hand goodbye and went on his way. He didn’t turn around to check whether Lance was watching him go, if only because he was sure Lance wasn’t. 

The market was large, and for many blocks of stalls, Keith didn’t see a single flower or seed package. Finally, after rows and rows of spices clogging his senses and too many types of clothes to absorb, a stall that sold seeds. It was just a long table in front of a beige, unremarkable tent, no merchant in sight, and Keith leaned over to inspect the labels. He squinted at the small packages and even smaller script. They looked old, and he doubted they were still good for growing, and he couldn't read anything anyway, so he sighed and turned to walk away. Maybe there would be another stall, one that sold actual plants and not just their seeds. 

Someone blocked him from leaving. The figure was silhouetted against the bright horizon, scarfs in tones of beige and brown artfully wrapped around them so their eyes were covered and only their mouth was showing. They were smirking at Keith, positioned in front of him like they were the owner of this stall, and determined to keep Keith from leaving. 

"What?" 

The smirk widened a bit. 

"You're looking for a challenge, aren't you?" 

He wasn't really, but he also wasn't about to admit that, so he just shrugged and crossed his arms. A challenge was not what he had been looking for, but something in the merchant's voice, almost frantic, kept him listening. 

"These aren't normal seeds," the merchant declared, marching over to stand behind their dusty table and brandishing proudly with their four arms, "these are the most difficult seeds to grow in the universe. None but the most talented and diligent gardeners can nourish them accordingly." 

The desperation in their voice was palpable now. Keith couldn't imagine that the merchant sold a lot with this description, and he definitely wasn't the right choice for the title of _most talented and diligent gardener_. He just wanted one single cactus. 

"Uh," he said, "cool." 

Then he turned to go. 

"Wait! Wait, wait -"

Against all better judgement, Keith stopped again, not two steps away from the stall. He sighed. It was getting too hot, and he was getting impatient, and also growing a little resigned at the fact that today, again, would not be the day he'd acquire a space cactus. 

"Please don't leave, I have something _very special_ just for you-"

The merchant huffed heavy breaths as they hurried to Keith, patting the pockets in their scarves. 

"I'm really not the right person for seeds." 

The hectic motions ceased, and there was no smirk on the merchant's face anymore. It made Keith a little uneasy, their covered eyes still obviously staring him down, as if they could see something he had never seen when he'd looked in a mirror. 

"No, you are. These aren't regular seeds. Do you know what it feels like when something is just _calling_ for you?" 

Keith opened his mouth to say no and really, this time, walk away, but his jaw clicked shut again. The blue lion _had_ called for him, and it was the reason he was standing there, it wasn't unreasonable that it would happen again. Even though an old package of mysterious seeds was the last thing he'd have expected to be calling for him. 

"Kinda," he said. 

The merchant pulled something out of their pocket as if they'd known where it was all along. It looked just like all the other packages on the table, maybe a little more worn-down, a little older. 

"These have been calling for you for days, and I finally, finally recognized you a few minutes ago. Take care of them." 

The merchant took Keith's hand and closed his fingers around the seed package. It crumbled a little in his palm, and an earthy smell filled the air. Keith looked up to ask for the price, but the merchant was gone as if they had never been there in the first place. He stood still for a moment, blinked at the tent behind the stall and the undisturbed packages of seeds, and then pocketed his own, free, mysterious seeds, and went on. They might not be a cactus, and he might not be a good gardener. But something about the mystery was just intriguing enough that he was looking forward to planting a new kind of seed. 

The garden was the first place Keith went back on the castleship. Something about the market's atmosphere had followed him, had made him restless, anxious to plant the seeds. Thoughts of beautiful, strange flowers filled his mind as he prepared his patch for the seeds, and he had to snort at himself as he tested the soil's moisture. There was no way something would even sprout. The Altean soil might have been magical, but it still couldn't do the impossible.

The seeds, once Keith shook them out of their brittle package onto his palm, were small and brown, nothing special at all. They left a bit of dust on his gloves as he let them slide into the grooves he'd prepared. And yet, they made him feel something, apprehension maybe, and a strange urge to remember. Remember what? His eyebrows furrowed as he patted a thin layer of soil on top of the seeds. The latest memory from their trip to the market surfaced in his mind, Lance's shoulder against his, Lance's laughter right against his ear. 

The thing with Lance was plain and simple: Keith was well aware that he had a crush on him, but he was also aware that pursuing his feelings in any kind of active way was a bad idea for a multitude of reasons, so he'd stopped thinking about it after the first time it had crossed his mind. He wasn't sad about it. He wasn't trying to get over it. His feelings for Lance were much more like a universal law than what people usually made romantic feelings out to be, and it didn't feel like something that would change, or something that needed mutuality to keep thriving. It _did_ sometimes hurt, because all things considered, Lance was probably not the best person to have a crush on when he had no interest in you and you weren't his preferred gender, but it was by no means the worst pain Keith had felt in his life. He'd never believed in a happy ending for himself, and if he was going to get one, then just what he had now was enough: having friends that might just one day become a second family and doing something worthwhile. A romantic relationship had never fit anywhere in his future anyway.

The seeds and the soil pulled his thoughts, his feelings, out of him, maybe absorbing them, until he was drained and exhausted. Keith took a break on the garden floor. His patch still looked bare, just brown soil, now a little less smooth than before, but the seeds were planted, if they'd grow or not. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've been writing this for about a year now, and it's changed so much in the meantime, i think it's time to just get the show on the road. this is my first real multichapter fic in... three or four years?! so i'm a little nervous, but no matter how many headaches it has given me and how many it'll be sure to give me in the future, i love this story and i'm glad i finally get to share it!
> 
> the next chapter is already on its way and a lot longer than this! i think i can safely say that most of the chapters are going to be longer than the prologue :)
> 
> if you enjoy my writing and would like to know what else i get up to, i'd be very glad if you followed me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/cheeseroyalty)!


	2. I: Vion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Planet Vion is beautiful and powerful and would be a beneficial addition to the Voltron Coalition, but convincing them to join will take a bit of effort. At the same time, Lance discovers something about Keith that confuses him more than it should.

On their way down to the capital, they flew across one of planet Vion’s bright blue forests. It was a beautiful planet, strange, saturated with color and light, and from up in space, it looked a lot like Earth. Maybe that was why fighting for this planet, sending a few enemy ships away and watching them burn in the distance, had felt so natural and easy. Maybe that was why Lance was so eager to step out of his lion and breathe in Vion’s atmosphere and see for himself what color exactly the trees had. 

Vion wasn’t occupied by the Galra and never had been. They had tried, sure, but even the times when Voltron hadn't been there to help out, the Galra had never made it past Vion's defenses. Some oddity, miracle, technological advancement made it possible. A secret that they'd never shared with anyone. 

The morning of the day they touched down on Vion, Lance had been startled by the alarm blaring through the castleship's halls, neither asleep nor truly awake yet. He threw his armor on with the most enthusiasm he could muster and hastened down to his lion, trying not to expect too little or too much. Another stalemate, another battle that they didn't lose, but also didn't quite win, like it always seemed to be these days. Voltron was caught in a standstill, strong enough to survive, but not good enough to succeed: _something_ needed to change if they wanted to win the war in their lifetime. 

The alarms had faded into the background as Coran's voice crackled through the speakers. 

“This should be an easy task. It’s only a small fleet, they’re not in the process of attacking any planets or other fleets. Or us.” 

“Then why are we bothering? If they’re not attacking anything,” Hunk had asked over the comms, and Lance had silently agreed, and turned another corner. 

“First of all, they’re still the enemy-”, Allura said, before Coran wrestled himself in again. 

“And they seem to be headed to one of the most elusive and beautiful planets of this sector! If we help them out, they _might_ just consider joining the coalition.” 

Lance had reached the hangar and let himself sink into Blue’s pilot seat with pursed lips and a lot of questions. The others’ faces popped up on his video feed as Blue came to life, also in various states of confusion. Only Allura and Coran, heads pressed close together in their shared video, had been grinning, almost vibrating in excitement. 

No one had to ask which planet they were referring to. As the paladins formed Voltron and took out the lone Galra battle cruiser, barely breaking a sweat, Coran told tales of planet Vion as he remembered in from ten thousand years ago, flourishing and strong, what a great addition to the coalition they’d make, and how he’d dreamed of a vacation there, if only it hadn’t been so near-impossible to get visa. Allura nodded along enthusiastically. 

By the time the remaining Galra were fleeing, Vion was a technicolor orb growing closer on his screen, and Lance was smiling. Even though Coran had advised not to expect too much, and that the Vionese might not want to have anything to do with Voltron no matter what they did, someone called them and invited them down. And now, standing on Vion’s grass-green soil and breathing in its petrichor air, Lance felt caught in a dream. 

Five lions and a castleship found just enough space to land outside of Vion’s capital city, a fortified, golden amalgamation of technology and the alien equivalent of art nouveau architecture. A mass of Vionese had been waiting to spill out and welcome them, and the elegant, tall, many-hued aliens filled in around them, blocking Lance's way to the other paladins. 

There was no getting through to anyone. Somewhere, one of the Vionese lifted a mildly protesting Pidge into the air, and a small riot broke out as another tried the same with Shiro. Lance snuck a glance at the Vionese closest to him. They were a medium height for their species, about two heads taller than Lance, skin a deep turquoise, and a peaceful smile on their lips that did not speak of any lifting attempts. (And what a bummer that was.) 

Coran had called them closed-off. With the evidence provided, Lance doubted they had stayed that way in the last ten thousand years. 

Lance craned his neck to look for Hunk and Keith, but it was pointless. Somewhere to his left, someone laughed nervously, which might have been Hunk, but there wasn’t even a hint of Keith. Maybe someone was trying to lift him. Maybe someone had put a flower behind Keith’s ear, and it had startled him into shock. These people seemed exactly the kind to greet strangers by putting flowers behind their ears. Why had no one given Lance a flower yet? 

Before he could turn around to the turquoise Vionese to ask for one, the doors to the castleship opened with a deafening hiss, and the crowd around the paladins dispersed. 

Allura and Coran descended the stairs down to the ground, and from far away, they were as regal and beautiful as any of the Vionese. 

With another movement of the crowd, someone stepped into their midst from the direction of the capital's entrance: A tall Vionese, taller than most of her species, even though the heels of her uniform boots definitely added to it. She smiled and let her six curious eyes glide over the paladins, rose pink skin impeccable, almost glinting in the sun. 

“Welcome to Vion, paladins of Voltron.”

-

The Vionese leader, General Rozora, lead them through glimmering golden gates and through streets woven from living turquoise vines, and from every window, people leaned out towards them. Voltron had been on many friendly planets before, but it had never become boring or normal to Lance, and they had expected the Vionese to be guarded and secretive, so it felt even more special. It wasn't difficult for Lance to smile and wave back at the people. A certain anticipation built in him as they approached the large government building in the middle of the city, but he was still smiling. 

Allura and Keith were walking at the front of their group, just behind Rozora, Lance a few steps behind them. 

"Oh, you can call me Roz, no need for formalities," she was just saying, head inclined to Allura, though her eyes had slid over to Keith, and there was something weird in her gaze. They all had introduced themselves before the gates of the city had closed behind them, and there would have been enough time for Roz to look at Keith and notice that he wasn't as human as he seemed to be. It had happened before. But Roz turned around, and the conversation continued as open and friendly as it had been, and Lance had to get rid of the weird tension in him before someone noticed. Tense, just because someone looked at Keith a bit too closely. 

The palace doors opened and closed without even a sound, and Rozora led them through the halls like a friend welcoming someone into their home for the first time. The palace wasn't as gold and ornate as the outside had made it seem, but it was winding and large, and much of its beauty came from its simplicity, clever architecture leading the light to where it was needed, ranks and stilts growing at every corner in color combinations that Lance couldn't take in fast enough, and more and more Vionese joining them. 

An unsuspecting set of doors, not larger or more ornate than any of the others they hadn't crossed through, opened into a room that would have been sprawling if not for the intersecting pillars overgrown in aquamarine ivy. It was more of a garden than a ballroom, and already filling up with curious Vionese. 

Hunk drifted by, and Lance grabbed him by the elbow before he was swept away, too, and left Lance alone and cut off from everyone else again. 

Hunk looked around startled before his eyes settled on Lance, and a relieved smile spread on his lips. 

"Man, I'm so glad I found you. I was starting to feel like I was the only human still left because I couldn't see anyone else above their heads." 

Hunk was clinging onto Lance just as desperately as he did in return. 

"Same, man. Same." 

Together, they watched as the Vionese thinned out, spread themselves about the room. At the front, Roz had found a few large chairs on a platform, like the Ikea version of a throne room, and invited Allura up there with her. The two of them looked marvelous next to each other, two beautiful women with complementing color schemes, and even in this wondrous room, they drew more looks than anything else. The other paladins had meandered to the front as well, so Lance and Hunk shared a glance, and moved forward as well, slowly. 

"What do you think is going to happen now?" 

Hunk was whispering, and Lance didn't question why. The room wasn't silent, but it still felt like they had to be quiet. 

"They talk diplomatics, Vion joins the Coalition, we have a party, then leave?" 

Hunk hummed beside him. 

"Something feels different about this one, though." 

Lance felt it too, but it was hard to find a reason for. The Alteans had looked forward to seeing this planet a lot, so that meant it was possible they would stay longer than an evening, even if they always had important business to attend elsewhere in the universe. And Vion had been neutral and isolated for so long, they might need more than a nice talk to be convinced to join the war as an active party. But it was something else entirely that made Lance feel different about this one, something in his gut, something like hope.

Hunk stopped, close to the platform, next to an older yellow Vionese and a curious gaze that catalogued everything about them. She was almost gawking at them but returned Lance's friendly smile. Faint music, tinkling from somewhere above, grew louder, but when Lance craned his neck, there was neither a speaker nor a musician. A trio of Vionese to his left shuffled their feet back and forth to the rhythm, as if they couldn't wait to dance. 

"Seems like they're doing things a little out of order," Hunk whispered, voice half-awed and half-apprehensive. 

Lance snorted. 

"I think that's just how they do it here." 

Hunk turned to him with serious eyes. 

"You know, I –"

Roz raised her voice, cutting through Hunk and everyone else around them who had begun talking, and Lance had to startle and turn to her to realize it was not a greeting, and she had already been talking to Allura. 

"Who told you that name?" 

Roz' brows were furrowed, and she had jumped up from her seat, towering over Allura, who had shrunk back in surprise. Lance's hand twitched to his side in reflex, ready to defend, and Hunk tensed next to him as well. 

"Well, the names 'Vion' and 'Zerjog' have always been very interwoven, there's barely a –" 

"Interwoven! That's one way to put it." 

Roz barked out a laugh and leaned back, still taut, but not threatening anymore. Lance relaxed, and Hunk breathed out quietly. 

"Might this have anything to do with the lack of… flowers?" 

"Flowers do still grow in the forest. I might have never experienced this planet at the height of its beauty, but not all it once was had to be abandoned for the sake of peace." 

"But – that flower – surely…"

"Oh, yeah. _That_ was Zerjog." 

"How?" 

No one spoke. Even the music had ceased. Lance's thoughts were loud in the silence – Zerjog. A random Galra-occupied planet, definitely on their list of civilizations to rescue, but not a priority. Just a week ago, they had come across a tent run by Zerjogians on a rebel market, and now they had touched down on a planet that disliked Zerjog. It was too much of a coincidence, and Lance wanted to lean over and ask Hunk what he thought of it. 

Before he could, the old Vionese that had silently lingered next to Hunk and Lance made a noise in her throat and tottered forward, and Roz snapped her mouth shut. Her beautiful rose-pink face was still screwed up in anger, but she allowed her elder to step forward and address the room as if she was telling a tale to her grandchildren. 

Zerjog, an old ally of Vion's, had long since turned to the Galra side and, even worse, taken with it the pride of the Vionese: their most treasured flower. Centuries ago, the flowers had bloomed all over the forests, until they were a living, pulsing thing, even more breathtaking and otherworldly than they were now. But Zerjog had betrayed Vion, left them, and taken what had been most precious to them, and it had hurt the Vionese so much that none had wanted contact with outsiders at all, until Rozora's generation. 

The yellow Vionese took a bow and slunk from the podium. Lance met Hunk's eyes and knew: this wasn't going to happen in just one day, especially if they also planned to free Zerjog from the Galra. They hadn't found out a lot on the market, because the Zerjogians were covered, both in manners and in clothing, and the only thing they had found were rumors, whisperings about rebels among the younger Zerjogians. 

Allura had already spun another conversation with Roz, this time quieter, less tense, and Coran and Shiro were wandering over, after a quick wave to the other paladins that meant _mingle_. So they did. 

Things calmed down again. The music took back up, and Lance lead a few bright-eyed Vionese around the room in one of their easy, lively dances before he settled down in a corner with Hunk and the older Vionese. They had struck up a conversation about the lost flowers, and Lance didn’t mind, but he also wasn’t the most interested, so he let his eyes stray to the windows and the faint glow of the forests far away, luminous blue and vast. What would it be like inside? More like taking a swim than a walk, maybe. Lance lost himself in the thought. 

A glint of something drew his attention back into the room, and his gaze fell on Roz and the golden decorations of her uniform. It was hard to look away from her. Her impressive, strange-yet-familiar physique wasn’t the only reason, nor was her height. Something about her demanded respect, attention, even if she was laughing and joking. And someone was making her six eyes squeeze with laughter. Keith. Next to Roz, he was almost short, and certainly out of place. He looked stiff in his armor, relaxed stance, but off somehow. Maybe it was his serious expression, because how could you be making someone laugh if you were barely smiling yourself? 

Roz calmed herself and said something to Keith, and he responded quickly, intensely, not as if he was telling jokes, but as if he was participating in a serious debate. Roz was still smiling, though, and right there in plain sight, she settled her long, elegant fingers on Keith’s shoulder, one of her long silver pigtails sliding to her back as she bent her head to the side. _Oh_. Lance flushed with sudden realization – was this why she had been looking at him like that, earlier, out in the city? 

Because she was flirting with him. She was flirting with him, and he was just nodding, talking like it was a barely friendly conversation between acquaintances. It didn't have anything to do with Lance, but he still clenched his fist as he strained his ears to catch bits of their conversation. He wasn't very successful, and nothing about the situation made sense, but how he was feeling made the least sense of all. He was a little jealous that Roz wasn’t flirting with _him_ instead, yes, but mostly, he felt sorry for Keith. He obviously didn’t realize what was going on and was passing up on a great opportunity. Roz was hot, into him, they had enough time on this planet, so why wasn’t Keith doing anything about it? 

“Lance? Are you listening?” 

Hunk and the older Vionese were staring at him. Lance had drifted off, straying into the direction of Roz and Keith, so he pasted a smile on his face and inserted himself back into the conversation, an arm casually up on Hunk’s shoulder. 

“Oh yeah, totally. Of course I was.” 

He did his best to follow what he had missed, even though the topic had drifted off into specific botanics while he’d been distracted. But the situation with Roz and Keith didn’t leave his mind, because they stood close enough that once in a while, a laugh or the fragment of a sentence drifted over to him. It itched Lance to take Keith aside and tell him to _do something_. To _flirt back_. He held himself back but made up his mind to tell Keith about it as soon as possible, when they weren't in the middle of a diplomatic meeting. 

This was not the first time something like this had happened: They’d landed on a new planet, made nice with the locals, and sooner or later the most attractive female (or what was closest to female) alien took an interest in Keith, and he _never seemed to notice_. As if he was completely oblivious to flirting. Lance had, more than once, wanted to take him by the shoulders, shake him and tell him to take the chances Lance was never going to get. Yeah, sure, he was jealous that Keith was getting all the attention he might’ve been yearning for himself. It stung a little each time, just like it did with Roz. But it was never the entire picture, because Keith was Lance's friend now, and he knew Keith wasn’t doing it on purpose, so he couldn't seethe in envy. 

But that was the heart of the matter, maybe: the jealousy wasn't the worst thing about Keith getting this attention on planet after planet they visited. The worst part of it was that he deserved the attention down to the last molecule that made him so ridiculously talented and handsome, but he didn’t even know he was getting it in the first place. All these aliens hadn’t chosen Keith at random, they’d been drawn to him, seen something extraordinary in him - the slope of his perfect eyebrows, the glint in his eyes or his confident stance or the shine of his hair. There were many extraordinary things about Keith, and he deserved to realize what people thought of him when they batted their eyelashes and flung their hair over their shoulders and laughed at his nonexistent joke.

Also, Keith hadn't shown a lot of will to relax lately – not even off-duty on the rebel market – and maybe someone to make out with was just what he needed to let loose. Just for a while. Someone compatible, nice, and good-looking, someone who liked him. Someone who wouldn’t be too close for too long, so no feelings could develop on either side. Roz was a perfect candidate, and she was beautiful, yes, but it was not enough for Lance to have a crush on her, so he would have to swallow the remaining jealousy that he couldn’t ever seem to shake completely when it came to Keith. 

Roz lead them back to the edge of the capital at the end of the night, but then they were on their own, and in the dark, the distance to the castleship seemed a lot farther. The night sky hung above them, dark and moonless, and the rocky ground was illuminated only by the unfamiliar constellations up above. If he kept his eyes off the sky, Lance could almost confuse it for Earth. 

A few strides ahead, Keith stepped on something crunchy on the ground. He turned back in confusion, and starlight caught the edge of his eyes. Lance couldn’t keep his mouth shut anymore. 

“Hey, why aren’t you spending the night in the city?” 

Keith made a tentative step forward. 

“Huh?” 

There had been more than enough suggestion in Lance’s voice, but he turned it up another notch. 

“I’m sure Roz would have given you a room to stay.” 

Keith’s eyebrows, nothing but vague shadows in the dark, drew together, and his shoulders lifted like he was about to say something snappy, but Coran cut through his first syllable with a flourish. 

“Did you know that Vion is host to a spectacular meteor shower every year at the same time? It’s said to fill the sky with bursts of color, but which color is a secret only to those who have witnessed it. Maybe we could be so lucky this time around - it’s always been my dream -”

He delved off into a spiel about colors and meteors and how long they’d stay on Vion, and for some reason, Keith was especially entranced. He listened to Coran for the entire time it took them to walk the open fields until they were at the castle, and Lance didn’t try to bring up Roz again. He was tired, Keith wasn’t being receptive, and there was still time left before they’d leave the planet. The diplomatics seemed to turn out more complicated than anticipated after their warm welcome, but that was alright. The stars slid away behind the castleship’s glow, but they were still glittering up in the sky.

-

The next morning, Lance was the second to last to arrive in the control room. But only because Keith hurried in after him as if he had somewhere important to be, with that particular look about him, as if he couldn’t wait to be anywhere else, _doing something_. Lance knew the feeling, because he'd felt it before and because Keith often had that look on his face, but it had never bothered him a lot before with Keith. He just was like that. But, with the thoughts from the day before still fresh, Lance frowned. They all deserved to relax. And since Keith had proven resistant to most usual methods and was especially dense to social cues, more desperate measures were needed. 

Allura gave a quick summary of her discussion with Roz and the other officials from the day before - it wasn’t unlikely that Vion would join the Coalition, but since they hadn’t agreed yet and were in the right position for demands, they had to be careful, especially about the situation with Zerjog. No one on Vion was ready to bury their centuries-old feud just for this alliance, but Voltron wanted them both. Needed them both, even, and Coran and Allura both agreed that there was something weird about the situation. Neither of the planets had ever been very forthcoming or close to Altea and their allies, but they couldn’t remember anything about their feud apart from a connection between the planets. Allura recalled, eyes fixed on the floor in concentration, that there had been a saying about the two planets, something with flowers, and that it had always been cryptic to her, but she'd never assumed a feud or anything negative. She could be misinterpreting, of course, she amended, but Coran agreed that something didn’t add up, even if the answer to that missing variable had to be buried deep in an ancient archive. 

“So, while Shiro, Coran and I continue the diplomatic talks, I want two of you to use the opportunity to look through Vion’s archives and the other two to go to Vion’s forests and look for one of the last flowers that still grow. I have permission from Roz to analyze them and search for the reason they stopped growing, and on top of that, finding a flower of this kind in the forest is seen as a sign of luck on the path one has chosen, so it might be in our favor if our paladins find them.” 

Allura took a deep breath and looked between them with a small, forced smile. 

“I wanna go to the forest.” 

Lance had spoken a bit too fast and without thought, but no one questioned him, at least not out loud. The forest had enticed him, even before he knew what he was seeing, and after hearing stories about it and knowing what it meant to the Vionese, Lance couldn’t help wanting to see it for himself. Hunk and Pidge had already decided they were going to the archives, and the thought of walking through the forest so soon made Lance smile, until Keith shuffled from one foot to the other in his periphery. Right. There was still one person left. 

“Keith? You’re alright with going to the forest with Lance?” 

Keith answered with a half-shrug half-nod, and Lance cracked his knuckles and set his sights on the goal. Alone time with Keith was just what he needed to talk to him about Roz, as he had wanted the day before.

-

A winding path drew Lance and Keith into the forest. The bright green grass that covered the ground grew taller deeper into the forest where less people had walked, lapped up the bright blue stems of Vion's oaks. The canopy was farther away ever time Lance craned his neck, because the floor might have been sloped, but the trees only grew taller. Faint sounds disturbed the silence, but the air was still light and damp and the sun shone through to the ground no matter how far they walked. It wasn’t exactly what Lance had expected, but he tried not to be let down. 

Lance wasn’t _bored_ , it was more like walking through the forest, stepping over dark blue roots and shielding his face from periodically falling periwinkle leaves didn’t preoccupy him enough to keep him from thinking too much about other things. They had a single thing to look for: A flower that bloomed somewhere up in the trees, just out of reach for them, with large, pulsing blue petals. It didn’t sound like something extraordinary in a place like this, where tree stems were bright blue, and petals spun around their leaves. They followed the path into the forest until it wasn’t a path anymore, just the largest space between two trees. The only sound was their breathing, and even stepping on a crispy leaf was deafening. It should have been creepy, maybe, but Lance never had the urge to turn around and check his surroundings. Light filtered through the mist at the treetops, and he wasn’t alone. It wasn't like swimming, not like he had thought, but a lot like walking into the shallow waters of a calm lake. Nothing lurked here. Without their armor, it might really have felt more like a leisurely stroll than an actual mission. 

But with any threat out of mind, Lance couldn’t help but focus on the one thing he’d also come here to do apart from finding the flower: talk to Keith about Roz. They wouldn’t be staying on Vion for that much longer, maybe one or two days, and even if Roz was clearly interested, it would take more than a single conversation to get to making out. Or maybe it wouldn’t. Lance didn’t know about the Vionese traditions, and he didn’t even know what Keith was like with these things. Maybe that was what he should start off with? Maybe he had really high standards or didn’t want to start something with an alien – the crunch of a leaf under his boot startled him - which would be a weird standard to have, because Keith wasn’t even fully human himself. The most likely explanation why he hadn’t ever seemed to notice or cared about any of the pretty aliens flirting with him was that he hadn’t noticed, or didn’t care, didn’t understand why he should care. But that was why Lance was there, why Keith could count himself lucky that Lance considered him a friend. _Lance_ noticed. _Lance_ knew very well why Keith should care. And he would share both of these things with Keith, because he wanted to know what Keith looked like when he was in love. 

The image came into his mind unbidden, completely separate from the Keith who was walking in front of him: mostly silent, only minimal conversation between them apart from the few stories Lance had told out of boredom. He was focused. Not emotionless, but emotion-wary. Lance’s unbidden-image Keith wasn’t like that at all, in a looser shirt and tighter pants than Lance had ever seen him wear, flushed and laughing, and a pink hand in his hair as he leaned up to kiss a very beautiful, very tall woman. Something about it didn’t seem like Keith at all, and yet, the image made Lance's heart thump and his fingers twitch around nothing, and he had to tear his imaginary eyes off of it and distract himself in the real world. 

There were only the same small pink-petaled flowers they’d encountered the whole way. Pink like Roz’ skin in Lance's daydream. Lance was still shaken up, something in him burning in a way he couldn’t quite explain, couldn’t even discern as good or bad, didn’t know if he wanted to hold onto or push away. Both, somehow. 

But the flowers gave him an idea. No one might have yet put a flower behind anyone’s ear for their whole stay here, but the Vionese did give a lot of weight to flowers, even if not these ones in particular. Lance cleared his throat. 

“Hey, do you know anything about these pink flowers? Do you think it’d be okay if we took some of them back with us?” 

Keith looked over his shoulder, nonplussed. 

“What, you want to bring some back for Allura?” 

Lance hadn’t even considered it and faltered. He hadn’t been thinking about Allura in that way very often lately, only fleetingly, but definitely not enough to bring her back flowers and mean it as a romantic gesture. Not only that, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d flirted with any intention at all. He couldn’t turn off the charm completely, it was just how he talked to people, sometimes, but he hadn't truly wished something would come out of it for some time. Lance didn’t have an explanation for it – but he couldn’t have an existential crisis about it while Keith was staring, waiting for an answer. 

“Uh, no.” 

Keith blinked at him, his eyebrows drawing together as if he was sensing a conversation he did not really want to have but couldn’t escape. Lance took a deep breath and conjured up a winning smile. 

“I just thought you could take some of these back to Roz, I bet she would love them.” 

Keith’s face stayed impassive. 

“Why?” 

“Uh, because they’re pretty?” 

“No, I meant, why would I bring her back those flowers? They’re not the ones we’re supposed to be looking for."

Lance sighed. Keith’s face was pinched, not exactly his usual face when he didn’t get what was going on, but close enough that Lance took it for just that. Maybe this was going to be harder than he had initially thought, but it would be worth it in the end. He was doing this for Keith’s sake, for Keith’s own good, so he’d probably end up thanking Lance. And in the long run, this could benefit the whole Coalition. Probably. 

He told himself that as he crouched and plucked one of the pink flowers. They were formed like buttercups, five large pink petals, green stems, but, like most flora on Vion, they did not have roots. When Lance tugged, it went without protest, without tearing anything, and it would thrive again if put into soil or a vase again. 

Lance straightened, put his free hand on Keith’s shoulder and stared into his eyes as intently as possible. Keith’s eyes were wide, flitting around between Lance’s face and his hand. A shadow of a branch reflected a blush onto his cheeks. 

“Dude,” Lance said, disbelieving at how confused Keith still was, “what would you think if someone gave you a flower like this?” 

Lance held the flower out to Keith, and his gaze flickered over the petals, almost reverent, as if he was realizing something difficult. Lance bit his lip to keep himself from grinning. Keith would be so mortified when he finally realized. His fingers trailed the petals carefully, softer than Lance had ever seen him handle anything, before he gripped the stem and took it from Lance’s hand. Suddenly, the hand on Keith’s shoulder felt like too much, too close, so Lance took a step back, hand clenched at his side. 

“I would think they’re… flirting with me.” 

Keith was still looking at the flower in his hand, his face was half-obscured by his hair, his voice neutral, maybe carefully so. Lance allowed himself to grin and put his hands on his hips, even though it still felt like he was missing something. 

“So, you get it?” 

“Get what?” 

“Oh, come on. Roz was flirting with you the whole evening yesterday. I’m just suggesting, um, _reciprocating_.”

Keith's face fell. Not even like he was mortified or humiliated, it was a wholly different expression, hurt in the old, used-to-it kind of way. Lance's heart stopped for a beat. Nothing about this conversation had been supposed to be sad, to be hurtful, and he didn’t know what to do. Keith schooled his face into a neutral grimace, but his voice still held everything he'd banished. It was scratchy, hesitant. 

“No, she wasn’t. She was being _friendly_ , not-”

Lance couldn’t deal with whatever he'd caught a glimpse of. It was too much, too deep, and he was already kind of in over his head. So, he breathed out through his nose, and shut it away. 

“Oh, she totally was,” Lance crowed and threw his hands in the air. “I know how to read body language, buddy, and she was _totally_ into you. I’m just saying, as a helpful tip from an observant friend, it would probably be easy to woo her with one of these flowers, and, you know. Get some, or something.” 

Instead of joyous or flattered or even embarrassed, Keith’s expression was blank. Not as if Lance had just told him an attractive lady was into him, but more as if he’d been telling Keith about the intricate theories behind some mechanical miracle he could not give two shits about, and maybe also insulted him in the process. 

“No, thanks.” He turned around. “Not interested.” 

Keith walked on without looking back, and Lance huffed, but followed. He wasn’t giving up that easily, especially now that there was obviously something else going on. Something that had made the heart-wrenching expression flit over Keith's face. 

Something was stuck on Lance's boot, and as he bent down to flick it away, pink petals clung to his fingers, and he unpeeled the flower he’d given Keith from his sole. It was flattened, but the petals unwound and inflated again, fresh and new. He smiled and put the flower behind his own ear. If no one was going to do it - then it would just have to be himself. 

“You know, quite a few alien girls have hit on you, and it’s a little hard to believe that you didn’t notice at all, never.” 

Keith continued striding forwards, maybe even stomping, now, and Lance felt that he was on the right track, here. He was almost to the root of the problem, the place he should have started in the first place, instead of hanging onto a leaf he now wasn’t even sure existed. 

“What’s the actual issue here?” 

Keith stopped. They hadn’t walked far, and the forest had not changed much around them, still deep and blue and silent, but they were in a small clearing, trees around them growing in a circle, and only a few pink buttercups sprouting in the middle. It wasn’t anything special in this vast, special forest. And yet, the light felt different, softer, the ring of trees around them like a gentle shelter. 

Keith sighed and turned around, a particular determined set to his jaw, until he looked at Lance. Keith's mouth dropped open, eyes wide and fixed on the side of Lance's head. Oh. Lance lifted his hand to his ear and yeah, the flower was still there. It was so light that he couldn’t feel it, and if Keith hadn't startled at the sight, he probably would have forgotten. Lance left it there, though. Keith's reaction made no sense to him.

“It’s not like it’s a secret or anything,” Keith mumbled, eyes averted. Lance heard, even though he had probably not been supposed to. 

“What’s not a secret?” 

Keith snapped his gaze up and looked him right in the eyes, unblinkingly, but Lance didn’t back away. 

“I don’t - I mean,” Keith stuttered, then rolled his eyes and balled his fist. Lance was rooted to the spot. 

“I’m gay. It’s not that I never notice if girls flirt with me, I just don’t care.” 

Keith held his gaze long enough for the uncomfortable silence to stretch as Lance's jaw dropped. It made so much sense. It was a logical explanation for basically everything Lance had been confused about, and yet, he was even more confused or maybe - confused in a different way. 

“Oh,” Lance finally got out. 

Keith looked away. Lance was too out of it to figure out the expression on his face. 

“You have a problem with it?” 

“Oh, no. No no no, not at all, I just - I just need a moment to adjust my world view, I guess?” 

Instead of rolling his eyes and wandering away like Lance had expected, Keith actually snorted and threw him a half-smile, and then decided that the clearing was a nice place for a break. He sat down and stretched out his legs, alien buttercups peeking out between them. Lance sat next to him and picked at his gloved fingers. It was true that Lance didn’t mind Keith being gay. He _really_ didn’t. He'd never had a problem with gay people, maybe quite the opposite of that. A same-sex couple on the street made him smile and walk with a spring in his step for miles, and he had a lesbian sister, so there really wasn’t a reason for him to feel anything but _oh, cool_. But there _was_ something else, something queasy in his stomach, something he couldn’t latch onto. He swallowed it down the best he could. He was still on a mission, even if Roz wasn’t an option anymore. 

“There’s really never been an alien _guy_ that’s flirted with you? On all the planets we’ve been?” 

Keith shrugged. Lance waited, but he didn’t elaborate. 

“Did you _want_ any of them to flirt with you?” 

From the start, Lance had been operating under the assumption that Keith was missing something, that his mission was filling a gap, but what if he didn’t want that at all? What if he didn’t care for romance or flirting or kissing at all? What if the way to make him relax was something completely different? The thought gripped Lance’s insides tightly. If it was something else, then it was very likely to be something Lance couldn’t help with. He wasn’t a magician. He could only do so much, and if it wasn’t something that involved finding Keith someone to make out with, he was totally out of his depth. 

“Maybe,” Keith said with a smirk in his voice. 

He was looking at Lance now, head turned slightly, and the expression on his face was undeniably _teasing_. Not mad, not defensive. Lance grinned back. 

“Yeah? Like who?” 

Keith looked to the leaves above him, eyebrows drawn inwards as if he had to make a difficult decision, but his mouth was still twitching. Something about how the shadows from the canopy played with the corners of his mouth and his long lashes made it impossible for Lance to look away. 

“Hm… Rolo?” 

“You’re kidding, right?” 

Keith's face and the way he’d said the name said otherwise. Lance could see it plainly, right there in his raised eyebrow, that he hadn’t needed to think that long to come up with him. It was relieving - because at least there was someone he’d found attractive on this whole journey, and Lance could work with that. And it was worrying, because -

“Really? _Him_?”

“What? It’s not like he was ugly, or _obviously_ going to betray us. And he was tall.” 

Keith mumbled the last part into his collar, and Lance might not have heard it if he hadn’t been paying close attention. As it was, he definitely heard, and a grin spread over his face as the implications hit him. Keith had a _type_. Knowing it made Lance strangely euphoric. 

“So, you like tall people. Tall… guys.” 

Keith answered with a groan as he rolled his head back to stare up the canopy. 

“Sometimes I regret telling you anything at all.” 

“Why? I’m gonna help you so hard,” Lance couldn’t keep the glee out of his voice, “you know, the Vionese are pretty tall by nature.” 

Keith’s head rolled a tiny bit to the side so he could glance at Lance. 

“Yeah, so?” 

“I’m just saying. If Roz isn’t really, uh, your _type_ , if you catch my drift, there’s probably a tall handsome Vionese dude totally ready to rock your world.” 

Something about these words settled heavy in Lance’s stomach, but there was no time to examine that feeling. He was too close. He almost had Keith ready. He kept his grin going and shot his best finger guns at Keith’s cringing face. 

“And I’m gonna get you to him.” 

“ _Why_ did you have to say those words in that combination?” 

Keith’s face was still screwed up in disgust. Lance lowered his hands. 

“What?” 

“Never mind.” 

Lance cleared his throat. Keith was derailing him again, but at least he was turned in his direction after that weird interlude. 

“So, what do you say?” 

“You were being _serious_?”

“Of course I was?” 

Keith jumped to his feet, and Lance scrambled to follow him and calm him down before he scampered off into the depths of the forest, never to be found again. Keith hadn't run off, but he was tense, fists at his sides, face all screwed up like he'd tasted something bitter. 

“You think I need to get laid that badly? That’s what I’m lacking? You sure you’re not projecting?” 

Lance ignored the last part and reached out carefully. This sort of Keith was difficult to handle if you didn’t know what you were doing. He gripped Keith's arm closest to him and held onto it, even if Keith resisted. It wasn’t easy. But it wasn’t the first time Lance had done something like this, and the calm took hold of him quickly. Finally, Keith let himself be tugged enough that Lance could put both of his hands on his shoulders. 

“Hey. Take a deep breath.” 

Keith huffed. His stare told Lance he’d done it on purpose, but it did technically count as a breath, so he sighed and patted Keith’s shoulder before letting go of it. He’d calmed down enough that he wasn’t in danger of running away anymore. 

“So, first of all - no one said anything about getting laid.” 

Keith frowned. 

“That’s what ‘rock your world’ _means_.”

“Maybe. But I wasn’t using it that way!” 

“Okay…”

“I really didn’t mean you’d have to go and…”

Lance slid his second hand off Keith’s shoulder and did something with his hands that he regretted immediately as Keith’s face filled with horror. 

“Oh god.” 

“Oops-”

“That was _so much worse_ than ‘rock your world’.” 

Lance couldn’t help it. A giggle escaped him, even as he tried in vain to shoo the picture away with his hands. At least Keith wasn’t running away, he was standing here right in front of him, arms crossed, but a small smile on his lips. This was the time Lance would have to get it right. He squared his shoulders. 

“Okay, I know this sounds weird but - we’re friends. I just thought it would be nice if you, my friend, could let loose a little bit. Or like, I saw this pretty alien commander be obviously interested in you, and it gave me the idea that that it could actually end up being good for you.” 

Keith only blinked, so Lance continued. 

“And now that I know that’s not really up your alley, I still want to help you, because I still think you could use a bit of fun.” 

The words felt too vulnerable, too much, as if Lance was revealing an unknown, deep-seated part of himself. Maybe it was just that he wasn’t used to admitting he wanted to help someone. That must have been it, because all the other parts of himself he didn’t think about too often didn’t have _anything_ to do with this situation. 

Keith smiled, small and shaky. 

“I get it now. And I wanna say… thanks, but it’s still a no.” 

“Oh. But… it’s not that you’re opposed to it, right? You’re not asexual, or something like that?” 

“Uh, no. I’d just prefer making out with someone I know.” 

“Oh, yeah. I get that.” 

“Really? I didn’t think _you_ would.” 

Lance gasped, and Keith made a snort that might as well have been a giggle he'd swallowed. A short scuffle ensued in which Lance tried to get Keith in a headlock at first, and then just did his best to not be caught. Five minutes later, they were both laughing, splayed out on the forest floor. 

Calmed down, finally, Lance sat up and asked: “Okay, but is there anything else you’d like to do for fun?” 

Keith shrugged, lifting himself up on one elbow. 

“I’m having fun right now.” 

Lance groaned. 

“Okay, but we can’t really run around a weirdly-colored forest on an alien planet every day.” 

“We probably could -”

“Shush.” 

Lance looked around the clearing. They were about as deep into the forest as they could go, and the way forward would only be the way back up. The farther to the outskirts of the forest, the less likely it would be that they’d find one of the rare, revered flowers, and they hadn't found one yet, so Lance sighed and tried to make peace with the fact that he wouldn’t get any of his goals accomplished that day. He stretched, prepared to get up. 

“Let’s head back - huh?” 

Keith had grabbed - no, _touched_ , his shoulder, and when he turned around, Keith wasn’t making any move of standing up at all. He was staring at Lance as if he was about to say something very profound that he’d thought about for a long time, and something about that look made Lance freeze. His insides had switched places, and his breathing came faster, and yet there was no real explanation for _why_. Nothing about their earlier conversation could have led into a topic that could become uncomfortable or squirmy for Lance - _or could it_. He didn’t know anymore. Keith took a deep breath. 

“I thought of something you can do.” 

“O-oh?” 

A fleeting image, maybe a sensation, flit across Lance’s mind, barely enough to register, but his cheeks warmed anyway. He wasn’t even going to consider it. This was _not_ what this was about. 

“You can just come train with me.” 

“What?” 

“Training? You know, that thing we’re supposed to do every day?” 

“I train!” 

Keith rolled his eyes, but his lips were relaxed, if not really smiling. 

“Maybe, but you could definitely use a sparring partner. And I could, too.” 

In the silence that stretched between them, something unspoken passed. Maybe it was Lance nodding to a question Keith had never had to ask. Maybe it was the way they smiled at each other, then, not really the kind of smile you’d give your teammate after you’d just decided on another partner training exercise with them, but also not really like any other smile Lance had ever given someone. Maybe it was the way that even after they stood up to head back, the image of Keith smiling, small and a little hesitant, lingered. Maybe it was just the feeling of something beautiful unfolding inside of him for the first time. 

Still smiling, Lance looked up. Up above in the trees, something bright blue blinked down at him. He sucked in a sharp breath and his hands fumbled for the container before he’d fully processed what he was seeing. 

“Keith,” he whispered. “Keith! Come back, didn’t you see this?” 

“See what?” 

Keith came to a stop next to him, and Lance didn’t need to turn to know exactly what was happening on Keith’s face. He didn’t need to turn away from the bright blue flower up above, hanging from a neon green branch, that he would have recognized even without a description. If someone told him such a flower existed when he was still an innocent cadet, not yet whisked away into the depths of space by a sentient alien warship, he would have laughed, maybe scoffed at them. But here it was: pulsing like a beating heart, circling through colors but always bright blue, enveloping the air and branches in an ultramarine glow and a strange, cold warmth, like the first rays of sunlight on a cold morning that you knew would become a sweltering summer day. It was loving, as if the plant was reaching down invisible tendrils to stroke through Lance's hair and tell him _you're safe_ and _I know you_ and _I love you_. It took less effort to smile than it did to gather his thoughts again. 

“Man, I can’t believe we actually did it!” 

In a fit, overcome with the way the flower made him feel, Lance threw an arm around Keith’s shoulders and drew him to his side, as if they’d won the most important battle of their lives, and not just found a pretty flower in a forest. Keith wound his arm around Lance’s waist in return and stared, transfixed, at the flower, and Lance knew that they were feeling the exact same way in that moment, and that, somehow, was more exhilarating than finding the flower. Lance didn’t need to turn his head to feel Keith’s smile. They were connected, through the plant, their arms and the whole universe around them. There was nothing they couldn’t do, including climbing a tall tree and picking a fabled flower. 

And they did: They climbed the tree, both of them, and reached out across the branch and picked the flower and deposited it in a container. It was a masterwork of teamwork, and also fun, of mutual support, as if there had never been anything but a strong friendship between them. Container at their sides, one flower for each of them, they walked back out of the forest. Everything was a little more beautiful and brighter with the flower there, and the way out seemed a lot faster than the way in. 

It didn’t end abruptly. But it did end. It wasn’t like waking from a dream, and more like slowly stepping out of a pool of thick, breathable liquid that had submersed him. 

The unconditional love and connection to everything around him faded the further from the forest they were, and with it that weird contentment about doing something with Keith. It wasn’t that Lance didn’t like doing things with Keith usually - but it had never felt like that, and his absolute non-reaction to their sudden camaraderie disturbed him in hindsight. They brought the flowers to Roz, who was delighted, almost couldn’t believe it, and the satisfied expressions of Allura and Shiro at the now almost-solidified alliance made up for the lingering weirdness. 

Lance didn’t let himself really think about everything until he was alone in his room, getting ready for bed. The pink flower had survived the whole trek, still behind his ear when he put on his pajamas, and he twirled it between his fingers. He was going to meet up with Keith for training the next day, but away from the flower’s influence, that didn’t feel like a fix anymore. It was true that he’d felt the need to do something for Keith’s mental state. But even more than that was the feeling, deep down in his bones, that Keith was lacking something, and he’d only been able to see it when Roz had so blatantly flirted with him. It was the inexplicable, uncomfortable feeling that someone like Keith deserved mutual romantic - or at least sexual - or at least kissy exploits. And it didn’t matter what his sexual orientation was or how adverse he was to close contact with strangers. The feeling was still there, and it wouldn’t disappear just by sparring. There had to be another way out. 

Lance was on the verge of sleep, flower abandoned on the pillow next to him, when the solution came to him. Of course. _I’d just prefer making out with someone I know_. It was so simple, and it made everything so much more complicated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the chapter!  
> if you have any theories i would LOVE to hear them! please! this is the first thing i post online where i feel like people could actually have theories, so it would mean the world to me.
> 
> this chapter already took me longer than expected, and the bad news is that the next one will probably take even longer :/ my best guess is the end of july or some time in august.
> 
> you can follow me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/cheeseroyalty) for updates, i also plan on posting some shorter things for pride month :)

**Author's Note:**

> i've been writing this for about a year now, and it's changed so much in the meantime, i think it's time to just get the show on the road. this is my first real multichapter fic in... three or four years?! so i'm a little nervous, but no matter how many headaches it has given me and how many it'll be sure to give me in the future, i love this story and i'm glad i finally get to share it!
> 
> the next chapter is already on its way and a lot longer than this! i think i can safely say that most of the chapters are going to be longer than the prologue :)
> 
> if you enjoy my writing and would like to know what else i get up to, i'd be very glad if you followed me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/cheeseroyalty)!


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